


Until You Pull Too Hard

by LydiaArgent



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Found Family, demiromantic yang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-31
Updated: 2015-04-06
Packaged: 2018-03-20 12:39:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3650652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LydiaArgent/pseuds/LydiaArgent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Team RWBY is sent on missions with different partners. Maybe people were right to be worried about Yang and Nora hunting Grimm together unsupervised, but Yang’s pretty happy with the outcome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Our world is fast becoming a more dangerous, darker place, as many of you know first-hand.”

Yang rolls her eyes and rocks on the balls of her feet. All of Beacon is packed into the auditorium, staring up at Ozpin at the podium. Ironwood lurks at the side of the stage, watching Ozpin intently.

“You all are training to be our first and best defense against the forces of Grimm.” 

Blake snorts audibly, and Yang calmly digs an elbow into her side. Ozpin sounds like he's reading from a prompter. It's easy for Yang to zone out, wonder if she could change Ember Cecilia's design to shoot fire deliberately or if it would just continue to be a happy accident. 

It's not like what Ozpin's going on about is wrong or unimportant. Yang cares about the imminent (if infuriatingly vague) threat against the kingdoms, but she and her team just tracked down and blew up a train designed to destroy Vale. Yang's pretty sure that whole shit-show wasn't the cunning plot of monsters. Not the Grimm kind of monster, anyway.

Yang tunes back in just in time to hear Ozpin say, “...unity is of the utmost importance, and not only within our kingdoms, or indeed our teams.” Yang shares a quick glance and a small smile with the rest of RWBY before Ozpin continues, “That is why each of you will be sent on an assignment with a partner not from your team.”

The whole room breaks out into an offended buzz. Blake tenses next to her, yellow eyes narrowing dangerously. Yang elbows her again, more pointedly, but keeps close next to Blake.

“--completely illogical!” Yang hears from her other side. Weiss is paler than usual and sneering fit to kill. “Really, how are we meant to be training and teambuilding adequately if they are just going to nonsensically--”

“It's just one mission,” Ruby says, cutting off what's promising to be a truly impressive Weiss rant. “We'll be fine, whoever we end up with. We're the best team ever!” Ruby ends on a fist pump, and Yang backs her up with a 'whoop.' Ruby's not exaggerating, either – they've been scoring top marks all semester.

“As long as no one does anything reckless.” Weiss glares at Yang, which is totally unnecessary. “I suppose there's no reason why this couldn't benefit our training,” she relents, before turning on Ruby. “But I don't care how good of friends you are with Jaune, you are not partnering with him. I have invested too much time and energy into this partnership for you to get killed on some stupid training mission.”

Yang cackles. Ruby looks a little rueful, but nods. “Good luck, everyone!” She gives everyone an encouraging smile before wandering off into the crowd of students. Weiss waves distractedly over her shoulder as she makes a beeline for Pyrrha.

“So,” Yang turns to Blake. “You're quiet.”

“And you're observant,” Blake snipes, before she sighs. “Sorry.”

“Nah, no worries.” Yang waves the apology off. “What's up?”

“I'm not too thrilled to work with someone new,” Blake admits. She cuts off Yang's imminent obligatory bookworm joke by adding, wryly, “Limited headwear options.”

“Oh. Right.” It doesn't seem like anyone's paying attention to them, so Yang grabs Blake's elbow and drags her into one of the auditorium's alcoves. “You end up with someone who finds out, gives you a hard time? I will light them on fire, break something important, and then hand them off to Ruby and Weiss.”

The corners of Blake's mouth turn up. “I'm just sick of having to hide.”

Yang pulls her in to a tight hug. “You shouldn't have to.”

“Thanks. Really,” Blake tells Yang's shouder.

Yang draws back and smirks. “Hey, what's family for if not extreme violence against people who mess with us?”

“That explains so much about you and Ruby and board games,” Blake says.

Yang tips her head back to laugh. She throws her arm around Blake's shoulders and they walk back to the main hall in step.

“See you back at the room,” Blake says, patting Yang on the wrist and lifting it off her shoulder. She moves off into the crowd, shoulders square and boots clicking. Blake's the biggest survivor Yang's ever seen, so she isn't too worried. It just sucks, the thought that Blake has to constantly deal with people's idiot opinions.

Teams are breaking apart with a lot of shifty eyes and pats on the back. Whatever game Ozpin's playing now, Yang can't see the advantage. From day one at Beacon, your priorities are your partner and your team. If the goal's supposed to be effective ass-kicking, you don't break up people who have trained together for hours, who know each others strengths and weaknesses like instinct. Yang tosses her hair and sighs.

Yang looks around the hall, eyebrows raised, vaguely wondering who the hell she's willing to put up with for a whole weekend. Her eyes land on a huge hammer being twirled restlessly. She grins and heads straight for it, hip checking several people hurrying away from it's radius.  
Nora's on her tiptoes, facing the other direction and craning her neck. Yang tugs at Nora's collar and dodges spinning metal. The concern on Nora's face transforms into a beaming grin.

“Hey!” She gives Yang an unprompted, very hard high five. The crack draws a few worried looks that they ignore, because the high five has kind of devolved into an intricate and improvised handshake. It ends in linked arms and snickering.

“Ready to kick some monster butt?” Yang yells, and Nora cheers.

“All right, everyone, it's time to get moving,” Goodwitch strides up, then takes in Yang and Nora's locked arms and matching innocent expressions. “Oh no. This is going to be another food fight situation, isn't it.”

*

Weiss is already finished packing. Ruby's things are all on the floor in piles that she claims are part of a 'packing process,' and Blake isn't back to the room yet.

“You're just going to use any extra space for ammunition,” Weiss reminds Ruby from her perch on her desk.

“Duh, but what about the new cartr – Oh, hi Yang!”

“Ladies,” Yang gives a wave and pulls her own backpack from her closet shelf. “Anyone seen Blake?”

“She was in the auditorium talking to Ozpin and Ironwood when we left.” Ruby's voice is muffled by the trunk of experimental Schnee dust cartridges she's nearly buried herself in. She emerges clutching a handful of alarmingly purple vials. “I thought she was gonna throw a punch.”

“Crap,” Yang groans. She wonders how ticked off Blake would be if she came bursting in on that conversation. Thankfully, she won't have to find out, because Blake comes through the door a minute later looking smug.

“I heard you beat up Ozpin,” Yang says, and Blake rolls her eyes at Ruby.

“I'm teaming up with Scarlett, so he decided to not-so-subtly advocate for 'extending my comfort zone'.” Blake tries for some kind of accent and sneers though the end of the sentence.

Yang covers her relief with a snort. “Is that Ozpin? Is that was that was? Blake, impressions are not your strong suit.”

“They're better than Weiss',” Ruby says automatically. She cackles when Weiss punches her in the shoulder. 

Blake rolls her eyes, half-smiling. It's what Yang thinks of as Blake's 'My team's a bunch of morons but I like them anyway,' face. “Their not actually stopping us, so I'm counting it as a win. I just don't get why they cared so much.” She starts throwing clothes into her own backpack with unnecessary force. “Who cares if two Faunus are working together? They're sending us out with partners we've never worked with; these missions can't be critical.”

“Thank you!” Weiss exclaims, shooting to her feet. “This feels like a complete waste of time. We know there are extremely dangerous forces at work! We shouldn't be running errands.”

Ruby shrugs. “We are still students,” she points out.

Yang chooses then to turn and dig through her closet. First of all, it's ridiculous to hear Ruby saying that, scythe-wielding, team-leading prodigy that she is. Also, Yang wants to agree with Weiss. She spent years taking care of herself and watching out for Ruby. Sure, she can always get better, so it's not like school's a total waste. 

But there's a reason she was thrilled to go behind all their teacher's backs, to get back to the comfortably skeevy parts of Vale earlier this year. She should be all about getting to choose their own priorities. She's pissed that she's not sure if she can trust her own judgment right now, because it should be the best thing she's got. But last time she did, she ended up unconscious on the floor of a train.

“Weiss is right.” Blake agreeing with Weiss is enough to make Yang stop throwing clothes into her bag and stand up. “We're supposed to be training to be the best, but all they do is keep us in the dark.” Blake's fists are on her hips, and Yang looks carefully between her and Ruby.

“How about,” she says, stepping into the middle of the room, palms out at her sides, “we go do our missions right now, and plan our mutiny when we get back.” Blake smirks and Ruby cracks a smile, ten points for Yang. She throws an arm around Ruby's shoulders. “So, sis, who're you replacing the princess with for the weekend?”

Ruby rubs at her ear. “I'm working with Coco.”

“What!” Yang definitely didn't yelp. “Anyone should have jumped at the chance to work with you!”

“I asked her, you nut!” Ruby throws her packed bag next to Weiss' and raises her eyebrows at Yang. “She's the leader on the most highly ranked team at Beacon. I could learn a lot from her.”

“Yeah, a lot about raging overcompensation. And ugly accessories!” Yang huffs and stomps back to her closet.

“Coco beat Yang at hand-to-hand once,” Ruby says in a deliberately loud undertone, and someone makes a choking noise that sounds suspiciously like a laugh. 

“Back at Signal, one time! Once!” Yang yells. “Someone please tell me Weiss got stuck with Jaune.”

“I will be working will Pyrrha,” Weiss gloats.

“Who are you with, Yang?” Blake asks.

“Nora!” Yang crows, and pumps a fist. The room gets immediately silent, and Yang turns around. “Huh, that's the same face Goodwitch was making,” Yang says, pointing at Blake.

Ruby and the team will always come first, but Yang kind of adores Nora. They started out sharing a napping corner in the library, which escalated into bonding over their shared interests in dancing, explosives, and how best to terrify people who think they know better than you. She totally stares when Nora tells wild, half-lying stories with waving hands, she get's completely enraptured. She likes how Nora takes up space. The nervous looks they get from people when they hang out are just a sweet bonus. Spending a weekend beating up Grimm together sounds pretty fantastic. 

“Just be sure to take photographs of any property damage for the insurance reports,” Weiss sighs. “Are you all ready yet? We're going to be late for our briefings.”

Yang throws a few last-minute personal effects in her bag before swinging it on to her back. “Let's get out of here.”

They make their way back to the auditorium, moving through the crowds of students lingering with their teams. 

“Are you ready to kick some butt?!” Yang turns to see Nora spinning Magnhild and skipping ahead of Ren, Pyrrha, and Jaune.

“Please, please be careful,” Ren says, looking between Yang and Nora like he isn't sure who needs the warning more.

“We'll be fine, Ren,” Nora sing-songs back. She whips her hammer into its holster and links arms with Yang. 

Yang just grins, and Ruby laughs and shakes her head. “Just don't burn the forest down, guys.”

Ren pinches the bridge of his nose. “Ruby, please, don't give them any ideas.” 

Yang cuts in, “If I remember right, your partner's the only one who burned down a forest.” Ruby laughs while Weiss rolls her eyes.

“Attention, everyone,” Ironwood announces from the front of the growing crowd. “Please locate your partners and get ready to receive your assignments.”


	2. Chapter 2

“All right, mission briefing, one more time! Because I maybe possibly wasn’t totally paying attention when Goodwitch was talking to us.” The helicopter is loud, but Nora is louder. She and Yang sit side-by-side at the edge of the floor, city turning to burned-out settlements to rocky countryside below their dangling feet.

Yang shakes a finger at Nora and holds the scroll out of reach. “Yeah, that’s because you wouldn’t stop staring at the lunch buffet!”

“Not my fault I’m the one with my priorities straight!”

“You’re both wearing headsets; you don’t need to yell,” the pilot informs them, sounding a little exhausted.

They turn identical looks of disdain on him, but flip the switches next to their ears. Yang relents to Nora’s poking and opens the scroll over their knees. She scrolls through the dense text quickly, summarizing as she goes.

“Unusual Grimm activity, northern peninsula, blah blah boring… Basically, the Grimm up here are being super aggressive for no good reason. Going after edge settlements and stuff. Could be nothing, but we’re not leaving anything up to chance right now.”

“So we’re turning Grimm into itty bitty Grimm bits.” Nora sounds extremely pleased.

“Absolutely! Also, y’know, checking out the area for anything suspicious. The boring part.”

Nora looks intrigued. “More suspicious than rampaging Grimm?”

“Guess so,” Yang says, closing the scroll.

“Sounds awesome!”

The helicopter starts to descend, the whine of the blades cutting off their conversation. Nora balances against the momentum of their descent and leans precariously to snag both their packs from the seat with Magnhild’s handle. Their feet hit the ground before the rotor blades even begin to slow. Nora promptly skips off across the uneven ground. Yang flips the pilot a salute and takes off after her.

The terrain north of the city is worn, ancient mountains. The broad rocky hills and plains are broken by scattered woods, trees growing twisted. The Grimm out here normally keep to the shelter, not any more fond of the unprotected open spaces than Yang. She keeps one wary eye on the sky during their hike.

She breathes deep, the air warm from rocks baked all day in the sun. It’s pretty out here, really, and she lets the feeling of the ground moving under her feet steady her stupid nerves. This is a routine missions, none of the fly-by-night stuff that she used to love. It might be work, technically, but if she has half a say in it, this is going be fun. Yang hurries a little to catch up with Nora.

Nora’s stopped on the top of a small hill. She grins back over her shoulder at Yang, and waves her hand, pointing toward the horizon.“Home, sweet home!”

Yang takes in the view. Yeah, it’s kind of nice, but, “Two day mission, right? I don’t think we’re stuck out here forever.”

Nora sticks her tongue out and points more deliberately, focused on the next hill over. “Halfway up the hill, over there?”

Yang squints, shielding her eyes with her hand. “Yup, still no idea what you’re talking about.”

“We need some kinda base camp, right.” Nora shrugs. Yang nods, hesitant, staring at the bare land before her and Nora says, “Well, come on!”

Yang follows Nora down one hill, both of them skidding on the rock and laughing as they go. They start to hike up the incline, and what had looked to Yang like a misshapen crag from a quarter mile away turns out to be a shallow cave. It’s not much more than a hollow in the mountainside, but it’s overhung with a study-looking slab of rock.

“Well, look at that. This is cozy.” Yang ducks into the entrance and raises an eyebrow at the dripping ceiling and dank smell.

Nora grins happily. “I didn’t realize you were so delicate.” She throws her bag on a dry patch of ground.

“Watch who you’re calling ‘delicate,’ shrimpy.” Yang puts her own bag down, and pulls a bundle of kindling from a pocket. She tosses it from hand to hand, peering out of the cave entrance. “Think a fire will keep more thingies away, or tell them ‘Hello, tasty treats over here!’?”

“Only one way to find out! Might dry things out, at least.” Nora digs a book of matches out of her pack. “Oh, oh, can I light it?”

“Be my guest.” Yang arranges the wood by the entrance and gestures broadly at the pile.

They stow their food and supplies, keeping them safe from bugs and curious animals while they’re out doing the hunting thing, and build up the fire to a low crackle. Nora hums the entire time, and smiles when Yang jumps in on the chorus for a couple songs. She knows them from the radio and when she went out dancing more, and it’s nice to have their off-key harmony bouncing off the rock walls while they work.

“Pyrrha usually just asks me to keep it down,” Nora says, not sounding too bothered.

Yang grins and elbowed Nora in the side. “I grew up with Ruby and Zwei, so I don’t really do quiet. Blake’s gonna get used to it one day.”

“If Ren could, anyone can,” Nora laughs.

They climb out onto the sunny hillside and settle down with a rough map of the region. It’s long enough until dark that they should probably make some kind of progress on their job.

Nora nudges the map. “Right! We’re working. Okay, so, basic scouting pattern?” she says, finger dancing across the screen. “One mile radius around the camp, try to see what’s making the beasties extra-mean?”

Yang checks her gauntlet clips and pulls her sunglasses over her eyes. “Ready whenever you are.”

*

“This is really, really boring.”

“We’ve been walking for 10 minutes!”

“Yeah, and I still haven’t gotten to punch anything. Where are all these rampaging Grimm?” Yang kicks a small rock, sending it clattering down the hillside.

“I would’ve though you’d want some quiet after…” Nora pauses, her face screwing up as she looks doubtfully back at Yang. “You know, I was trying to figure out a tactful way to say ‘antagonizing evil cartels and defeating city-invading Grimm,’ but nothing was really coming to me.” She skips over the unstable ground, feet landing sure with each hop.

“Okay, yeah, that was bad,” Yang allows. She kicks another aggravating, wobbly stone out of her path, and doesn’t think about her dreams of red rips in the air and lace that cuts like a razor. About laying helpless on the ground. Yeah, she really needs to hit something. “But that’s the kind of thing we’re supposed to be stopping! Not being send on kiddy missions, or holing up reading in the library.”

“I hear ya,” Nora sighs, spinning around on one foot to look back at Yang, the other leg outstretched gracefully behind her. “I’m really, really good at beating things up. Not so great at the school thing.”

“Eh, school’s overrated.” Yang waves a dismissive arm. She immediately loses her balance, a cascade of rocks skidding out from under her feet, and she falls flat with an emphatic “Oof!”

Giggling the whole time, Nora hoists Yang up by an elbow and sets her heavily on her feet.

“How the hell aren’t you falling everywhere?” Yang brushes the dust off her legs. Nora walks backwards, a huge grin on her face, while Yang glares.

“Partly, enforced dance classes,” punctuated with a small, spinning jump, “and lots of practice swinging a giant hammer around. Needs about as much balance as you’d expect!”

“Tiny people and their giant weapons,” Yang grumbles.

They walk in relative silence for around 30 seconds. Yang counts.

“Yang?”

“Yeah?” Nora’s still intently scanning the horizon when Yang glances over.

“What kind of books do you like? I mean, if you’re bored or something.”

Yang shrugs. “Don’t know. I don’t read very much these days. What about you?”

“Nuh uh, I asked you first!” Nora looks over and raises an eyebrow.

Yang’s not exactly used to small talk while she’s patrolling. Actually, she’s not totally sure if Blake knows what small talk is. Yang’s never been big on questions about herself, but then again, it usually doesn’t seem like anyone’s actually interested in the answer. Nora’s looking back at her with big eyes.

“I’ve possibly been stealing a lot of Blake’s romance novels. No laughing!” She points a warning finger at Nora’s growing smirk.

“I would never!” She coughs suspiciously around her smile. “Okay, I’m laughing a tiny little bit, but mostly because me and Pyrrha hide our stash to keep Ren from making fun of us.”

“I like reading them out loud. Makes Weiss turns bright red and Ruby runs out of the room.” Yang recalls fondly. “Wait, you and Pyrrha? Really? That’s awesome! I thought Pyrrha’d only read like, training manuals.”

“Yeah, she does that too. But, I dunno it can be kinda nice to, I don’t know, get away from all that.” Nora looks away, back out across the mountains.

At risk of sending herself sliding down the hillside, Yang bumps her hip into Nora’s. “Hey, I totally get that. I really, really do.”

“Awesome.” Nora’s smile got a little too innocent. “Hey, you ever read that one? With the scene in the barn, and the thing with the straw—”

“Oh, yes, definitely remember that!”

“Don’t be such a prude!” Nora chases easily after her as Yang tries to hurry along the mountainside.

“I’m not a prude!” Yang scoffs, casting around for something that might distract Nora. “Hey, have you been to that new bakery? The one that opened up after the downtown rebuild.”

“No! What? No! There’s a new bakery? Not the place on 5th and Derry, because I go there all the time, and their cookies! They’re the size of your head!”

“Trust me, I know exactly what your talking about! I’ve had to haul Ruby out of there by the collar to keep her from eating six of them.”

The sun sinks low over the hilltop, and there isn’t a single sign of rampaging Grimm. Or, for that matter, anything doing something remotely suspicious. Like being alive, or even being not a rock. Yang should be crawling out of her skin. She wants to knock some heads together, to get shit done, do something easy that might shake her out of this funk. But she’s chatting away with Nora, about everything from Yang’s top-secret projectile Dust formulation to how many donuts Nora can eat before she pukes. Nora’s swinging her hammer the whole time, and Yang feels better than she has in weeks.

“Dinnertime!” Nora throws up her arms as they reach the glow of their campfire. “Yes! Dinnertime! What is for dinner, I am starving!”

“Um,” Yang pulls out some sealed plastic wrappers. “Dried meat, I think. Also dried fruit.” Nora’s face falls in a way that would be comical if Yang didn’t feel weirdly responsible, for some stupid reason. “Official rations! We’re supposed to be traveling light.”

Yang pulls out a pre-wrapped meal and and throws it to Nora. She catches it then sticks out her tongue, with a ‘blergh’ sound thrown in for good measure.

The floor of the cave dried out a little during their patrol. Yang sits on the ground with her own meal, close to the fire, and peels back the plastic. She tries and fails to not smirk when she says, “It might’ve occurred to me to sneak in some chocolate. Y’know, in case of an emergency.”

Nora sits down heavily inches from Yang’s side, her blue eyes enormous and pleading. “Yang. Friend. Best friend.” Yang snorts, and Nora corrects, “Second best friend. Beautiful lady with chocolate.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” Yang digs in her pack and comes up with a slightly squashed bar of chocolate.

Nora lets out a delighted cackle of triumph when she’s handed half the bar, and starts to devour it.

“So, first best friend,” Yang starts, swallowing around her own huge mouthful of chocolate, “Just a best friend?” They’re spending three days out in the wilderness. It’s time for some gossip.

Yang expects Nora to laugh or blush, or maybe take a friendly swing at her. Instead, Nora makes a face, kind of scrunched up and worried. Yang’s seen Nora fighting creatures ten times her size, and hasn’t seen her worried.

Yang puts her head down to pick at her food. “Crap, sorry, didn’t mean to bring up a bad subject.”

Nora waved her off, a piece of jerky in her hand. “No! It’s fine, we get that like, all the time. But I’m not into guys.”

Yang laughs, which if she’d given it a second of thought, was probably not the greatest response available to her. But Nora laughs back, tension gone.

“That’s a pretty good reason to not be dating him. So, you got a girlfriend?”

Nora shook her head. “Nope. Been a little busy! Grimm invading the city, and stuff.”

“Bah,” Yang scoffs, flipping her hair back over her shoulder. “There’s always time for kissing pretty girls!”

Nora grins, a little wicked. “I just said I didn’t have a girlfriend.”

Yang coughs hard, almost choking on her dinner, and Nora cackles.

“I like your style, Valkyrie,” Yang says, when she can breathe again.

They unroll their sleeping bags on the mostly-dry ground, settling in for the night. Nora dramatically recounts the time Pyrrha had tried to be Very Supportive and taken her to a dance club in the city.

“There were like, at least ten girls trailing her around all night! And Pyrrha’s great, but didn’t really, you know, get what was happening. So I’m dancing,” Nora does something involving the pillow she’s holding and some sort of shimmy, possibly by way of demonstration, “and I totally lose track of her, but she’s a big girl!” Yang nods, and Nora grins back before going on. “Eventually I gotta find some water, and I walk by Pyrrha at this table, with all these girls! And all she’s talking about is training and tournaments and teamwork, and I just had to save them.”

Yang laughs, and climbs into her sleeping bag. Nora gets into her own, leaving her arms free help emphasize, “And she tried to hide behind me! Do you know how much taller than me she is?”

Nora’s hair spays across her pillow and the pale skin of her neck, almost glowing in the dark of the cave. It’s kind of distracting. Yang decides to not worry about it. She’s in the middle of nowhere with the possibility of rampaging Grimm, listening to Nora pretty much talk herself to sleep, and it’s the best she’s felt about things in months.


	3. Chapter 3

“Ugh, working.” Yang lays back on the cool rock, pulls her shades over her eyes against the rising sun. Sleeping bags and caves aren’t great for her beauty sleep. Nora stretches out next to her with a happy hum, throwing an arm over her own face.

They laze for a few minutes, letting the sunlight warm the lingering cave-damp from their skin. Yang’s about to let herself drift back off to sleep when Nora pokes at her side.

“Yang. Yang. Yaaaaang.”

“Yup, yes, mission, right.” Yang sits up, arching her back with a couple alarming popping noises. She runs a hand through her hair. Ugh, cave dirt. The sacrifices she makes for the good of humanity. “You actually think we’ll find anything today?”

Nora pushes herself to her feet and shrugs with her entire upper body. “Only one way to find out!”

Shaking her head to try and clear away the fog, Yang shoves herself to her feet. Nora swings her bag impatiently, shifting it from hand to hand.

“Out farther from the city today?” Yang throws her own pack over her shoulders.

“Sounds good!”

They put the sun to their right and set out. It’s easier to walk over the rocks now, but the going’s still frustratingly slow. Yang’s always going to prefer fighting in places she can get to on her bike.

The hills get steeper as they go, the plains between them narrower. They stick to the high ridges, open peaks that look out over miles of land. There might be motion in the shady, threading valleys, but it’s hard to tell for sure. Yang thinks lots of angry Grimm would be pretty hard to miss, anyway.

“You ready to stop for lunch?” It’s getting on in the morning, and Yang’s pretty sure she just heard Nora’s stomach grumble.

“Nah, I’m good to keep going for a while.”

Yang can definitely still hear the grumbling noise, growing to more of a rumble. There’s a cloud of dust moving fast, and the ground is starting to shake under their feet. Yang and Nora look at each other and put their packs out of the way.

“Could just be a rockslide?” Nora says, walking forward and squinting.

Yang sees a glint of red in the gray. She grins, shifting her weight, fists coming up easy into guard. Her gauntlets unfurl down her arms with smooth clicks. “Not a chance.”

The crack of Yang’s fist against the first charging Ursa’s skull is almost downed out by Nora’s grenades exploding in the rear of the charging horde.

“This is more like it!” Yang yells, leaping over a Beowulf and shooting it in the back of the neck. As it falls, Nora hammers its head into the ground. She tips her face to the sky and laughs in the explosion of red mist, then shoots off down the hill slope in search of less-squashed pastures.

Yang weaves between the monsters, hair streaming behind her and muscles aching wonderfully. She and Nora move together without a second thought, loud and efficient. Grenades land just where Yang needs them, and Yang herds Grimm into hammer-range. There are way more Grimm at once than Yang’s seen anywhere except the train tunnel, but she and Nora cut through the pack in a bright haze of explosions and Dust-powder and wild laughter.

But something’s off, Yang realizes, as she takes a swipe at a Boarbatusk charging past her. Most of the Grimm are just running by, too distracted to bother about the people with weapons. There are still plenty ready to fight, so Yang’s got her hands full for a while. Eventually, the last of the Grimm run past in a flurry of half-hearted roars and flying dust.

“That was weird.” Yang spins around, looking from the retreating cloud to Nora. She’s firing off some final grenades and cheering. “You ever seen a Grimm run from a fight like that? I mean, even when they’re getting destroyed they keep coming at you.”

“Yeah,” Nora catches her breath, and thinks for a minute. “You don’t usually see them running in mixed packs like that either.” Her eyebrows draw in, and she chews on her bottom lip while she stares out at the horizon. It’s a quick moment, wiped from her face fast. Yang definitely would’ve missed it if she hadn’t been staring a little. Nora shakes herself, spins her hammer before clipping it to her back, and turns a bright grin on Yang. “What can I say, we’re pretty terrifying!

“Nope, hold on, back up a step there.” Yang searches Nora’s face. “Want to tell me what’s up?”

Nora shrugs, and her smile drops a notch. “Me and Ren grew up in an edge settlement. Grimm destroyed it when I was a kid, and not everyone made it out.”

Yang opens and closes her mouth a few times, trying to find something even approaching appropriate to say. She comes up with, “That really sucks.”

Her grin a little more secure, Nora nods at the path of destruction the Grimm left behind. They set off along the trail of overturned and shattered rock. “It really did. That’s why we both wanted to be Hunters for basically ever.”

“That’s definitely a reason.” Yang’s managing to keep up now, walking elbow-to-elbow with Nora. “Payback can be sweet.”

“Nah,” Nora says, and leaps between two huge boulders. “Just wanna make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Big goal.” She’s not trying to squish Nora’s dreams, or anything, but it’s a thing that’s been on her mind lately. “Trying to keep everyone safe.”

“I don’t think anyone gets into this line of work because of reasonable life goals,” Nora says. She looks thoughtful rather than upset.

“I did, kinda,” Yang says. “I just wanted a big adventure.”

Nora gives her some impressive side-eye. She must pay attention to Ren.

“What? You’ve met me, right?” Yang laughs.

“Yes,” Nora draws the word out. “You mean how you always take care of your team first? Everyone saw how Blake was earlier this year.” She’s quiet now, and Yang can’t really look at her. “It was hard to miss. I know it’s none of my business, but it’s pretty obvious that you’re a big reason why she’s doing a lot better.”

Yang swallows. “I can’t always help them.”

“’Course,” Nora shrugs. “They don’t need you to.”

“Uh, yeah.” Yang thinks about Ruby taking down that Nevermore and gets proud all over again. “But the big sister thing’s kinda hard to kick,” Yang admits. “Thanks, for, y’know, not thinking I’m being stupid.”

Nora cracks up at that. “This isn’t stupid. My team is stupid. Very stupid.”

Yang smiles at that. “Have Pyrrha and Jaune even gotten their act together yet?”

“Maybe? Kind of? After a lot of poking with very sharp sticks, and Ren getting traumatized for life.”

Yang shudders. “It might be even worse than the ongoing Weiss and Neptune disaster. That boy cannot keep up. Blake and Sun might be working out, though.”

Nora makes quiet noise of glee. “That’s so cute!”

“Even if they weren’t disgustingly adorable, it’s good for her to have someone to talk to about,” Yang catches herself fast, “stuff.” She’s kind of appalled; she’s never even come close to mentioning Blake being a Faunus to anyone outside the team.

“You mean Faunus stuff?” Nora asks.

Yang blinks. “No,” she says, staring at Nora to figure out if she buys it. “I mean, what?”

“It’s not like, super obvious,” Nora reassures her. “Not that the bow’s real subtle.” Yang rubs at her face. “You guys were just so weird and intense this semester! And Ozpin obviously knew what was going on, but every else was just kinda,” Nora waves her hands at her sides, sharp frustrated motions, before dropping them to slap against her legs, “and eventually stopped trying to figure it out. It’s just my team that knows, and we don’t care!”

“Crap,” Yang says. “Blake’s gonna care.”

“Sorry.” Nora winces. “I won’t say anything if you don’t?”

“I’ll let her know,” Yang sighs. “She’s still pretty on edge these days, but she’s paired up with Velvet right now. Maybe that’ll help.”

“Good.” Nora sighs and smiles, sounds genuinely happy that Blake’s going to be all right, and that’s it for Yang.

Yang’s never had time for romantic crap, never really felt the need to bother. She’s got friends she hangs out with, and they’re fun, and the people closest to her, who she’ll do basically anything for. The idea of going on dates with and trying to care about some dude she just met, and who’s probably an ass? Hasn’t ever appealed.

“And,” Nora adds, “If anyone gives her a hard time, I’ll break something really important. Like a rib!” She sounds gleeful at the prospect.

The thought of going on a date with Nora is really, really intriguing.

Now, Yang can’t stop looking. That’s kind of a problem when she’s trying to keep up with her, carry on a conversation about firing mechanism adaptations to increase weapon momentum, and watch out for any more Grimm stampedes. It’s like someone flipped a switch without Yang’s permission. It feels pretty good.

They don’t stop for lunch, both too intent on following the trail on and on. It’s not surprising they missed any signs of Grimm yesterday; the jumble of gravel and stone doesn’t look too different from the rest of the steep, landslide-strewn ground. Now they know what they’re looking for, they can get something done. They eat jerky and dried veggies on the move, tossing a canteen back and forth to wash it down. Yang saves the rest of the chocolate, hoping they’ll have something to celebrate later.

Yang can’t help but be a little impressed at how far the trail goes on.

“Something really must have ticked all those Grimm off,” Yang says as they climb to the top of one of the taller hills. “Hey, wait, you hear something?”

Yang stops short. There’s a ringing noise, totally out of place in the quiet mountain air. They creep farther up the hill, and Yang recognizes the clang of metal-on-metal. It’s undercut with the sound of too-human yells.

“Who’s all the way out here?” Nora says, already moving up to the crest of the hill.

“God, setting off a flare would be less obvious than our hair,” Yang complains. They both move forward, peek over the edge into the broad valley below. Yang lets out a string of words she’d try and wash out Ruby’s mouth for.

The fence goes on and on, set deep into the rock and humming with current. Inside, gaping tunnels and mine shafts run into the mountainside. The flimsy aluminum barracks can’t do much to keep out the wind that whips through the valleys.

There are dozens of Faunus, some so small they must be children, metals rings on their necks and chains on their ankles. All Yang can see is red.

They’re not like Blake, able to hide behind a book and a bow and walk the streets of Vale. It’s harder to conceal claws like blades, curling ivory tusks, glossy black wings two meters across.

One of them, maybe part-frog, stumbles trying to push a laden cart out from the mine. One of the guards laughs, and knees them in the stomach. The white of the Schnee snowflake stands out on the guard’s sidearm and helmet.

“Oh, no,” Nora whispers, low and weary.

They both look up sharply at movement in the sky. A flock of small Nevermore fly directly toward the camp. A cloud of mist rises from the high fence, and the flock almost runs into itself, squawking indignantly, trying to turn around in mid-air.

“Guess we found it,” Yang says uselessly. “We’re supposed to report back.”

Neither of them move for a long moment. Everything in Yang is telling her to move, charge in all guns blazing, teach these assholes what happens when you treat people like dirt. She can smell the ends of her hair burning with it. But she’s frozen, staring, the thought of getting anyone hurt keeping her paralyzed. They might not be able to take down the guards, and the Faunus being kept prisoner would get the brunt of the punishment. The kids could get caught in the crossfire. So much could go wrong.

Then Nora takes Yang’s wrist, snapping her out of her daze, to pull her back into shelter. There are lines around Nora’s mouth and eyes, standing out with her frown and furrowed eyebrows, that Yang’s never noticed. Maybe she’s looking closer now.

Nora sits back, her palm running absently along Magnhild’s handle. “I’m in if you’re in.”

Yang considers backing down. No one could really fault her for actually following the rules for once.

But she thinks of Blake’s stories about the Faunus living outside the kingdoms, vague and unsettling and guaranteed to make Weiss’ shoulders tighten. If reporting back does anything, it’ll be slow and probably useless. She has to try, knows it’s worth the risk of failure. It’s Nora, bright and capable and fidgeting expectantly at Yang’s side, that seals her decision.

“’Course I’m in.”

“You’ll have take the guards.” Nora pats her warhammer. “She’s not exactly big on the incapacitating without completely squishing!” Nora sounds proud of her weapon’s capacity for single-handed, unmitigated destruction. Then she eyes the camp again, and sighs. “Didn’t think I’d ever be using her on people.”

Yang rubs at her gauntlets, unfurled since the fight earlier. “We’re all fighting different monsters than we expected.”

They finish getting armed, and hide their backpacks kind of awkwardly among the rocks.

“I’ve always wanted to do a prison break.” Nora perks up. “What’s the plan?”

“I’ll bet,” she says, thinking of the Faunus workers, “someone might already have a good one.”

Nora lets out a small, delighted noise. “This is so exciting!”

“We’re about to break about a billion laws,” Yang reminds her.

Nora makes a ‘pfft’ noise of total dismissal.

“So, here’s the thing,” Yang says, shooting for casual. “I definitely want to kiss you.”

“Awesome!”

They move, almost crashing together, Nora up on her toes and Yang grabbing the armor at Nora’s waist. Their lips are chapped from days of hiking, but Yang’s immediately distracted by the slide of Nora’s tongue against hers. They pull back, Nora keeping her balance by hanging tight to Yang’s shoulders. She comes in for one last peck.

“Let’s go break some heads!”


	4. Chapter 4

They make their way carefully around the edge of the compound, the shouting and ring of metal on stone covering their approach. They stop just behind one of the barracks, out of sight.

Yang can hear the electric hum of the fence, and is careful not to touch it as she leans in to whisper-yell “Hey! Hey, uh, can we have a word?” at the nearest Faunus.

They turn their head, multi-faceted eyes reflecting rainbows. Yang bites down on a grin when Nora does an entirely unsubtle come-over wave with her entire arm. The Faunus glances warily back toward the guards before edging behind the building. Their black-and-orange hair is short, creeping down their neck and over their shoulders, but it’s their gait that throws Yang off for a second. The movement of extra, slender arms in time with their steps makes the part of Yang’s brain that grew up on CQC stutter for a moment. If the Faunus is surprised that two heavily-armed human girls are just hanging out in the middle of nowhere, it doesn’t show.

Go big or go home, Yang figures. “We were wondering if you all wanted a hand in breaking out of here.”

Yang’s pretty sure those unreadable eyes look kind of incredulous.

“Those guys are buttheads!” Nora exclaims, but it’s quiet and way farther away than it shouldbe. Yang and the Faunus both whip their heads around to see Nora crouched down at the other end of the barracks, head bent close to the wiring, giggling with a few of the Faunus kids. “My name’s Nora!”

Yang turns back, trying to bite down on a smile because, hello, serious business. The Faunus holds up a narrow finger, then sidles off. Yang exhales, bracing her hands on her hips to stretch out her back. Nora’s busy nodding seriously as one of the kids asks, “This is a big secret, right?”

Yang doesn’t realize that she’s kind of staring at Nora until another Faunus comes around the corner of the building, almost making her jump. She’s intensely glad she doesn’t. Faunus have animal traits, Yang knows that much at least, but ‘snake’ or 'lizard’ don’t describe the woman in front of her. The only word that comes close is 'dragon.’

The woman’s a full head taller than Yang, staring down through slitted pupils, her clawed hands hanging easily by her side. Her clothes are ragged and even though she’s caged, Yang has the urge to bow or salute or something.

She’s a little overwhelmed.

“Right, so I’m Yang,” she starts, and has to stop herself from clasping her hands idiotically in front of her chest. “Me and Nora were out here on a mostly-unrelated mission, thing, and ran into all of this.” The woman doesn’t move, doesn’t blink. Yang swallows. “We figured we’d see if you wanted some extra firepower.”

Yang doesn’t drop her gaze during the long silence, pretends her palms aren’t getting sweaty where they rest on her hips.

“And this mission was?”

Yang had kind of expected her voice to be cool and raspy-dry, what with the reptile thing. But she sounds like a fire, crackling and warm, way gentler than Yang would’ve guessed. Yang explains about the Grimm and the razed edge settlements and the weird spray stuff from the face. The woman nods once, right at the end.

“I would think,” she observes, “this would merit a call to the Schnee Corporation.”

Yang clenches her jaw and pushes her hair out of her face. “I’m not an idiot, yeah? And I totally get if you don’t want humans all in your business, I really do. This is just an offer.”

The moment is broken by a chorus of quickly muffled giggles. They both turn to look. Nora and the kids are pinching blades of grass from between the rock and frying them on the fence.

Yang turns back to the woman, who’s giving Yang a far more considering look.

“I know it doesn’t really solve anything,” Yang admits, remembering long dark nights, whispering with Blake between their bunks, about what it feels like to be alone. “But it’s for family.”

The woman smiles then, scaled lips showing sharp teeth. “I think we’ll take you up on that offer. Call me Vara.”

Yang grins back, just as sharp. “Happy to help. You got a plan?”

The condescending look is probably deserved.

“Hey, Nora, you ready?”

Nora and the crowd of kids that’s grown around her all mime zipping their lips shut. Nora stands up and comes skipping over.

“Hi!” she gives Vara a wave and hip-checks Yang.

“You’re good with them,” Vara says.

“Nah, kids are great! So,” Nora bounces on her toes. “Is it time for the fun part?”

*

To Nora’s eternal and exuberant delight, the plan starts with several grenades to the fence’s electrical generators. Then Yang is through the wire with two Dust-powered swipes of her fists, and closes in on two guards before they can even get their hands on their weapons. Amateurs.

For the moment, it’s just Yang against a whole bunch of guards. But the Schnee Company clearly aren’t sending their best and brightest out to the middle of nowhere to guard prisoners in chains. They’re the kind of assholes Yang hates worst, morons who rely on big weapons and bigger egos, who leer at her outfit instead of realizing they’re maybe about to get their asses handed to them.

Even so, Yang goes for knees and wrists, her steel-toed boots and calloused knuckles crumpling armor like foil. Nora bounds along, cackling laughter and carefully places explosives, building a barrier for the unarmed Faunus retreating to the safety of the barracks.

Of course, not all the Faunus are unarmed. Yang and Nora handed out all their extra ammunition and Dust cartridges, stealthily distributing them through the fence. Chains are being blown off all around, tracks torn up, and suddenly Yang’s not fighting alone. Guards are taken down with fangs and claws and something that looks a lot like like a wasp sting.

Soon, the only noise is the sound of heavy breathing and the occasional groan from someone on the ground. None of them are Faunus, Yang’s thrilled to see.

Nora comes over with arms full of chains piled higher than her head.

“Feisty,” Yang says, and Nora sticks her head to the side to waggle her eyebrows.

“Found 'em in the shed!”

“Thank you,” Vara says, smirking at both of them and pulling a length of chain from the pile.

They chain the soldiers together far from the guard station. One of them will get free to call for reinforcements eventually, but a good head start’s always nice.

The kids look a little shaken when they come out from the barracks, staring around at the smoking pits in the ground and the bleeding wounds on some of the Faunus. Nora’s eyes get big.

“Be right back,” she says, and hurries over. “Hey guys! Remember me?”

Some of the kids brighten up, and one says, “Your hammer is huge.” She sounds a little awestruck.

“Yeah she is!”

Kids distracted by and enormous weapon and the potential for unintended explosions, the adults move purposefully. Living outside of the kingdoms means being ready for upheaval and moving, quick to organize and get your people to safety. Yang’s never seen it in action before. Sparse belonging are bundled up, food and water taken and stored, and everyone’s ready to go before Yang has to figure out a way to get that heart-grenade out of that kid’s hands.

“It’s de-fused!” Nora tells Yang, waving her off. The little girl looks so happy that Yang can’t be too worried.

“Your help is appreciated.” Vara comes over, hand outstretched to shake Yang’s, then Nora’s. “I’d rather we not run into each other again, but I suspect we will. Nothing personal, of course,” she adds, wry. “But times are changing quickly, and this won’t go unignored.”

Yang huffs a laugh. “I bet you and Blake would have a lot to talk about.”

Vara stares at Yang for a moment. “Not Blake Belladonna?”

“Uh, yeah? Kinda the family I mentioned earlier.” Yang says.

“Tell her we spoke.” Vara says. “She might be interested. She’ll know how to get in touch, if she wants.”

“Will do.”

The Faunus head north, farther from the city. Yang and Nora watch them until they crest a mountain and disappear from sight. Yang and Nora will give it a few more hours before calling for their pick-up. The climb to the top of a near-by hill, close enough to make sure any guards who didn’t learn their lesson stay put.

Yang can’t decide if she needs to talk to Blake immediately, or wants to put off that conversation for as long as possible. Blake’s not big on talking about her time outside of the kingdoms, but that might have to change. A lot of things will, probably. Lots of big decisions that Yang’s definitely not remotely equipped to make, but she’s feeling all right about that now.

“So, that happened,” Yang says.

“That was so. Much. Fun!” Nora sits down heavily. “Phew! I need coffee.”

Well, big decisions can happen later. Some easy ones can happen now.

“Coffee can also happen.” Yang sits down next to her, shoulder-to shoulder. “Like, right after we get back. And shower. We can get coffee.”

“Ohhhh, like a date?” Nora grins.

“Yeah, like a date.” Yang elbows Nora in the arm. Nora makes an exaggerated noise of pain, and flops over on to her back. Then she sticks out her arms and waggles her fingers until Yang lays down too, pressed against her side.

“Sounds even more fun than a prison break,” she admits against Yang’s hair.

“Ew, no, my hair’s disgusting, don’t put your mouth on it–” Yang ducks her head, but isn’t willing to get far enough away to avoid the smacking kiss.

They lay in the sun until the sound of helicopter blades beats overhead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, everyone! I'll likely be posting my playlist associated with this fic/this ship generally soon as well.

**Author's Note:**

> Oodles of thanks to notjustsharksfanart over on Tumblr for the encouragement and the beta read! I’ll be posting the rest on a M/W/F schedule, including the associated playlist. Thanks for reading!


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